Sunday, December 12, 2010

Light Up the Night

Our children had lots of fun at the Light Up the Night party at our church. It is a wonderful way to bring light to a night where so many people choose to make it a dark night. The children had fun dressing up. We had Pippi Longstocking, a cow, a cowboy, a lumberjack, an FBI agent, a motorbiker, and Wall e.



 The kids had lots of fun, got lots of candy, got cold, sat by the fire, got warm, and then I brought them home. The bigger boys and Cooper decided to stay longer and get a ride home later. When Austin came home he showed me how dangerous a lollipop could be. Apparently, a little boy was playing with him and whacked him on the head. Quite the egg for a lollipop! lol

And the next day I gave each of the kids a bag of candy and them they could eat as many candies as they wanted and then they were going in the garbage the next day. They thought that was a wonderful idea!! Until...

Cooper came to me and told me he felt sick. He actually looked a little white. Too much sugar! He took a seat by the toilet.

Briton and Raine thought it was fabulous and managed quite nicely.

I personally love to savour candies and make them last. But my dentist and a friend suggested trying that approach. The reason I was willing to try it is that I have 78 years of consecutive parenting through all eight of my children and out of all those years I am so happy to be able to say I have *one* child with cavities! And that child has only had fillings twice. So I want that record to continue.

But at the same time, I don't know. I want them to learn to *enjoy* things and not oink them down! lol Next year we will see.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it was me that suggested that to you.
I should have clarified that I was using the holiday as an opportunity to demonstrate to my kids through experience how sugar makes them feel. My kids eat very, very little sugar and have never trick-or-treated. They really wanted to try this year and rather then explain, yet agin, the danger of sugar I opted to let them try it and form their own opinions. They enjoyed the dressing up and the trick-or-treating for about 5 houses, then they were bored. By noon the next day 3 of the 4 of my kids who went threw the candy in the garbage because they felt sick. My 6 year old declared that trick-or-treating was kinda silly and could we please not do it again next year:) They have opted instead to have a dress-up party here at home.
I find I dictate to my kids too frequently and I really do want to raise independent thinkers who know the why of their decisions.
I don't know that I would repeat it the same way if they had decided to do it again next year. I think I would choose to do a few houses to keep the candy at a reasonable amount:)
Chelsea

Sharla said...

Looks like a lot of fun! I LOVE the Pippi Longstocking costume!!!

Hi from Ruth! said...

I echo the Pippi comment - great costume!!

We did a church party this year, too, and it was a GREAT alternative. We'll do this again. Glad to hear your kids had a great time, too.

BLessings Justine!

Ruth